I recently came across a new term, “Worldsourcing”, that expresses beautifully the next generation of global enterprises.  Take a look here, on the Lenovo blog.

The idea behind Worldsourcing is really the dawn of the truly global enterprise. Global enterprises operate on a truly global scale; operate with porous corporate boundaries (interacting with “outside” partners in much the same collaborative way that “internal” departments work together); and bring that global approach to all functions (not just manufacturing and customer service). Let’s look at each in more detail:

* Truly global scale. Worldsourcing companies have no single corporate headquarters, which means their senior management teams are often culturally, and physically, dispersed throughout the globe. This gives them a much deeper insight into the challenges and opportunities of globalization than their “multi¬national” brethren.

* Porous corporate boundaries. Worldsourcing companies have porous corporate boundaries – meaning they manage a portfolio of “internal” (same owner) and “external” (different owners) resources in most aspects of their work. This is why we call them truly global enterprises, and not just corporations. The very best cul¬ti¬vate the same kinds of trust-based, highly-collaborative relationships with their partners that they have with internal colleagues – a far cry from the SLA-driven, contractual relationships that often characterize “strategic” outsourcing relationships.

* Across all business functions. While some business leaders have managed global scale and porous relationships in one or two key functions (e.g., manufacturing and software development), Worldsourcing companies take this approach across all business functions – including marketing, product development, sales and customer service. For instance, a product development team based in India may work with a marketing team based in the Netherlands to create new value propositions for sale in markets from South Africa to Japan. This brings global creativity to bear where it matters most: not just in cost-reduction areas such as manufacturing, but in the core functions of business success – innovation and customer relationships.

Lenovo is a great role model in this new world. Another leader worthy of careful attention is Arcelor-Mittal (see this article from The Economist). More traditional “global corporations” such as GE, Coke and Procter & Gamble, deserve mention – but most of these are more truly multi-nationals than global enterprises. They still generally have a strong headquarters, often in America; they still rely preferentially on internal (owned) resources; and they still treat marketing and product development from a central hub.

The other companies that merit attention are the truly global professional services firms, arguably the first truly global organizations. Most notable among these are McKinsey, Accenture and Goldman Sachs, for their true “one global firm” organization and business models. But again, these firms have had little or no success with porous enterprise boundaries; rather, they keep most functions in-house.